My students and I just read this book in my Forgotten Books class. They weren't thrilled by it, but I thought it was fascinating, a peek into another "lost generation" that the myth of Paris in the 20s has obscured. Their biggest complaint (and mine) is that McAlmon's chapters are a lot of name-dropping and bar-hopping without much introspection. Boyle's chapters, on the…
My class "The Literature of War" has now moved on to WWI. Most of the students freely admitted that they knew almost nothing about it. That's not surprising, considering that even during the recent 100-year commemorations of the war, there was almost no mention of it in the American media. In Europe, the war was front and center in people's minds from 2014…
This week's readings on the experience of the Civil War for African-Americans sparked a lengthy discussion of America's suppressed histories. We read Susie King Taylor's Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, published in 1902, as well as speeches by Frederick Douglass, and a story published in 1864 in Harper's Weekly, “Tippo Saib." We also read two critical articles, one of which explained the long…
It's already February, but it's not too late to start making good on one of my intentions for the new year: to make a record of the course I'm teaching this semester. I have my students write regular discussion starters and reflections about what we are reading and learning, and they really value the experience. By writing down their thoughts, they engage with…
I'm happy to report that the pre-publication reviews of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters have been encouraging. Here is what they are saying: “Rioux’s deeply informed, multifaceted, ardently argued, and mind-expanding celebration of Little Women affirms its pleasures and significance as a tale ripe for reconsideration and recommendation to YA and adult readers across the gender…
Last night my Little Women reading group and I met to watch the first episode of the PBS Masterpiece Little Women. It was wonderful to see them (my friends and the March sisters) again. My reading group had meet several times in 2016, while I was writing my book on Little Women, to discuss the novel and its two successors. They had all…
Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy in Production Copy editing is complete. The illustrations have all been gathered. The layout has been designed. Even though it doesn't come out until next August, between now and then I will be busy helping to usher it into the world. Next month I'll be in New York to participate in a panel at the Modern Language Association convention, and…
I'm really looking forward to this meeting in February and getting a chance to talk about Woolson.
I'm happy to say that my new book on Little Women is in production. The manuscript is in and the copyeditor is hard at work. The cover designers have been working hard as well. I reveal the new cover and title in the latest issue of my newsletter, The Bluestocking Bulletin. Here's a sneak peek: There are also links to the book online and…
That's the tagline for a (relatively) new discussion group I and some other nonfiction authors have started in Facebook. We are calling it Illuminate and hope to shine a light on really great mainstream narrative nonfiction--history, biography, literary studies, cultural studies--particularly, but not exclusively, by or about women. There are great groups out there for fiction lovers, but where are the ones that…